NO8DO

Actually, I feel like a study has been done about everything and I question their validity. I've had 3 thesis papers published in scholarly journals and I'm only just entering my first MA in the fall (my GRE scores were "horrendous" [really just avg., but I guess that's horrendous to some]) I'm not tooting my own horn in the least bit, just stating that studies obviously have many flaws - unless I'm just a unique exception, which I doubt.

MA in Spanish & French (Languages & Literatures) at University of Delaware full funding guaranteed for 2 years (tuition & $14,600 stipend from TAship), with potential to reapply for fifth semester since I'm pursuing a double-major course of study - really excited about the funding because I know that most MA programs, especially in the humanities, aren't nearly as generous (the perks of a department that chooses to focus heavily on MA students instead of having a PhD program!)

I'll be spending 2 months in France (travelling for a month) and then the second month I'll be taking a course in Paris. All the while getting a head start on crazy long reading lists in Spanish & French literature.. !

Minnesotan - I think the problem on the continent (at least in Spain and France, and I'm sure Italy is no different), is almost worse. A lot of people end up with humanities degrees over there but then can't do anything with it because a) at least in the case of Spain (not sure about the others), profs are technically employed by the state and they hold their jobs for a very long time (since there is little encouraging them to quit/retire, even if their performance is suffering) unemployment is even a bigger issue there. Here at least we can attempt to get a job at a bookstore or starbucks until we can get a more respectable job where we use our degree, over in Europe you'll see a lot of 30- or even 40-somethings working in places like this, leaving very very few spots for people in their 20s. These are of course my observations from when I lived over there so I could definitely be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that economic woes are affecting everyone - not just Americans/Canadians - even if European currencies have hit all-time highs over the dollar.

In at University of Delaware (MA Spanish & French) with funding in form of TAship ($14,600/yr)!!! Opportunities abroad also..

I think it really just depends on the program I still haven't heard from the programs I applied to at University of Delaware - the potential adviser I was exchanging several e-mails with told me that 'hopefully' they'd be able to let me know by the end of March (and I got my NYU acceptance at the beginning of March - still much later than a lot of other places). The funding deadline was Feb 15, and their spring semester started very late on Feb 11. I just want to find out so I can know for sure where I'll be in the fall...good luck!

not sure about the PhD program, but I got into the Spanish/Port MA at NYU Madrid a couple of weeks ago good luck!

well said, I agree with that statement definitely - especially if the story is genuinely connected with the purpose/reason you decided to pursue a degree in a specific field (obv like mentioned in the last post avoiding cliches - since my guess is that they can sniff those out from 100 miles away)

You could probably get an official translation from an English translator in Spain. I'm not sure how picky they are but I'd imagine that any certified translation would work.

lxs- I actually applied to Penn for Romance Languages PhD, not Art History (only art history program I applied to was at UDel, which I'm thinking will be a rejection as it seems to be a very selective program), and don't think they've decided yet on Art History (or at least I haven't seen anything on these boards yet) - plus I'm sure halifax would have let us know!

lxs- did you consider trying for an internship first also? there are a lot of great ones out there (phila art museum, upenn, walters art museum, the met, just to name some on the east coast that would look lovely on an app to Art History PhDs), also, perhaps you can go for an MA first? (if you have one already, my bad, I don't recall if you said you are coming straight from undergrad or not) I recently got rejected from the one PhD program I applied to but in the long run I think that it's great that I did - I'm not sure I wanted to jump right into a PhD in the first place, plus it gives me the opportunity to go with one of the great MA programs I got into/applied to, and then perhaps keep the door open for what I want to eventually pursue as a PhD. I'm sure that the draw of an Ivy, and the fellowship package they were offering would have surely influenced me to go there, even if it wasn't the right thing for me at the time. Good luck to everyone who is still waiting, I'm not only waiting now on University of Delaware (MA Art History, MA Spanish & French)! (rejected from UPenn, accepted to NYU sofar)

haha got to post once in each of the forum's accepted/rejected forums rejection from upenn (phd romance languages), i'm thinking now it's for the better anyway and i'm extremely excited about the MA program I got into! - still waiting on two.

just got Penn rejection - it's certainly much easier to be rejected when you already know you've been accepted somewhere! just waiting on UDelaware now, at least I'm finally figuring out where I'm gonna go now, the waiting was terrible

For some reason I had this impulse to do my NYU personal statement more 'personal' than the others, and I sorta just wung it (aka had adviser look over other sops but not the NYU one), and ironically it was my first response and acceptance. I think like others have said it depends on the program. I used an anecdote about my study abroad experience in Seville, Spain (the program I applied to at NYU was the MA in Spanish/Portuguese in Madrid), and I think that really helped me because I blended my positive experience with my study abroad with the experience I hope to have with the MA in Madrid - including research interests, career goals, etc. in between. I know for sure that it wasn't my GRE that got me in - which leads me to think that even at top programs (and this is definitely a top FLL MA program at a top 10 uni in the field), things like the sop and your writing sample are of immense importance. Maybe you could e-mail the programs to see what you could strengthen for next time? I'm not sure if people do that but I've heard it mentioned on these boards before. Also, did you get a prof/adviser to take a look at your sop? Even though you don't want to change too much (it is afterall your personal statement), but a second set of eyes might pick out what you may have done wrong.

I'm mostly interested in Medieval and Golden Age (particularly mysticism), as well as Spanish Humanism in the Renaissance in particular. Another research interest of mine is the influence of the literatura vanguardista (Cortazar, Borges) on Hispanic Cinema. Lazarillo de Tormes is definitely a good one!

Do you know for sure that the Hispanic Studies prospective weekend has already happened? I know that the French people I talked to got their notices and invites, but they'd said that the e-mail was from the French Group (not the Romance Languages dept as a whole). It'd be unfortunate if rejected but I've recently been thinking that the MA route first would make the most sense for me. Keep me posted, if rejections are awaiting us I'd imagine they'd wanna get it done this week! haha If we are rejected though, I wonder why the DGS didn't just tell me when I e-mailed her last. All she said was "you will be notified of the committee's decision in early March!" Haha, it'd be a bit cruel if she said that, exclamation and all, if she knew I was rejected...haha especially since I've kept close correspondence with her through the entire process(what w/ issues regarding foreign transcripts being late, etc.). Thanks for the info and congrats also on your acceptance! What are your research interests?

No word from Penn yet, though the DGS told me to expect a reply in early March, which I would imagine means we'll hear something either this week or next. Good luck! Where else did you apply/get accepted? I just got an informal acceptance via e-mail yesterday from NYU for the Spanish & Portuguese MA in Madrid, I was pretty thrilled! More info coming in the mail in the next few weeks. Aside from Penn I'm waiting on a dual MA in Spanish & French at UDel.

thanks! I think my application was in around November 27(when I got the e-mail that said it was being printed and everything was being collected), though I had to send in a writing sample a bit late (after the deadline) because I had originally sent a rough draft in by accident - thankfully, that didn't affect my acceptance --good luck!

I just got an acceptance e-mail today from NYU Madrid for an MA in Spanish & Portuguese!!! First program I've heard back from and it's an acceptance so I'm stoked! More specific program info and funding info to come in the mail in a few weeks.

To all of you who have been accepted to different programs, where do you think you are going to go?

especially with a word like 'douche' haha...seriously.

I think that in the past, affirmative action would have made sense for various reasons. Now I find, as Minnesotan suggested, that it is a sort of reverse discrimination. The most qualified applicant should be chosen - white, black, green, or purple. Unfortunately, life isn't fair to everyone - and it sucks sometimes. If someone is so determined to achieve something in life, they'll do it no matter what their circumstance or background (case in point, look at historical figures in the past, I shouldn't even have to name any). I come from a large family and had to pay (via loans) for my undergrad degree, and will be graduating $100,000+/- in debt because of it. As you can imagine, I wasn't exactly encouraged to go to graduate school because of that financial thorn in my side. However, I don't expect an adcom to sympathize with my situation- other kids have the debt plus other more serious problems, so I'm not suggesting that my situation is unique whatsoever. I am saying though that it's naive to think that given opportunity, every person will succeed. It's a nice thought, but when you get to the level of graduate (hell even undergraduate), applicants need to be looked at exclusive of their race or other hardship. I think I came to a different conclusion regarding a similar topic like this in another thread, but the more I think about it the more it really doesn't make sense to me. I don't have anything against scholarhips aimed towards particular groups, because there is one out there for everyone (I get those annoying e-mails from fastweb so I can personally vouch for that). Like Minnesotan said though it's tricky as to how it started, why it's around, how it's being funded, etc., although I'm sure that events like those that happened in Michigan (which I am not familiar with) are few and far between. We all run with 'rocks' of various sizes - that's just life, those who don't are simply lucky. I'm a moderate and extremely optimistic person, so don't let this post fool you! I don't mean to be pessimistic here, I just think that people need to earn an acceptance. And to get back to the point of the original post, I obviously don't think that race should have anything to do with any decision reached by a committee. (sorry to continue with the racism tangent, I just wanted to voice my opinion on the matter ) As for how decisions are reached...I just recalled the Coke commercial where it shows the strange process a bottle of coke goes through in the soda machine. That's pretty much what I imagine, although you are only adored by the strange creatures who live in the machine if you get acccepted, haha.

halifax and others waiting on Penn - I randomly checked my status page today and it finally says 'completed' instead of 'incomplete' - though the DGS assured me before that it was complete she just hadn't updated the status pages. I have a feeling this could mean decisions by the end of next week (she did tell me the beginning of March). Scary! haha congrats to all you guys and your [ivy] acceptances!

This has been sort of the norm from professors with whom I have talked to about Medieval/Renaissance Studies programs (b/c I'm interested in pursuing the PhD after my MA in Romance Languages - assuming that's what I go with for this cycle) - they all tell me that you should get one of the degrees in a solid discipline. That is to say that you should have a solid command of say, a language, literature, maybe even art history, history etc. etc. for the Medieval Studies PhD, since that degree is normally highly interdisciplinary (also depending on the program and school) and it just makes you more marketable. I've also heard it the other way. Get the MA in Medieval Studies, and then your PhD in a more concrete discipline like (insert humanity here). Nothing against the MALS, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to get a job with two extremely interdisciplinary degrees - not impossible I'm sure, but prob not the easiest thing to do either - and in a place like accademia, I'm guessing that you'll generally want to make things easier for the job search, not harder. If you are 100% sure you want to be in a Medieval Studies PhD, I would suggest you go for an MA in Literature, History, or whatever would complement your study of the Middle Ages the most. You could probably still do that with the MALS, I just think you may want to weigh all of your options first.

University City is a great area. I interned at Penn's archaeology museum last summer and commuted since I only live 25 min outside the city. My friends though just got an apartment (for rent) that was pretty affordable for the area (900 something a month) around 41st and Spruce, which is also a nice area and is under the wing of campus security, gym is closeby, HUP is right there. In general its just a really nice area of Philly and I was surprised when my friends told me the price they were getting for the apt. Good luck with your search!